Measurements are not only important in science, design, and engineering industries, but everyday tasks often require measurements as well. From calculating distance on a map, to obtaining product dimensions, to measuring necklaces, bracelets, rings, and other pieces of jewelry, having ready access to a measuring device can prove useful in a variety of contexts.
For example, each year, millions of graduating students engage in the process of purchasing class rings as a symbolic representation of their achievement. As a requisite step to purchasing a class ring, each student must obtain a ring size based on the measurement of his or her finger. Generally, the ring sizing process involves a student's physical presence in a store, or employs a physical sizing chart, such that the results can be relayed to a ring retailer upon taking additional measures (e.g., emailing the results, telephoning the results, entering the results into a customer portal on the Internet, etc.).
Similarly, the footwear industry is a multi-billion dollar industry in which purchasers must know the size of their feet prior to purchasing a shoe. Furthermore, shoes produced by different manufacturers may fit differently, so it may be useful for a purchaser to know the size of their shoes as they relate to specific brands. Generally, the shoe purchasing process also involves a purchaser's physical presence in a store to use a bulky foot measuring device, or to try on different shoe sizes until they arrive at the size that is most comfortable to them. This is especially true with children, whose shoe size can change significantly from year to year, or even from month to month.
As society moves into an era where instant gratification is becoming an expectation, not only is there a general lack of immediate access to measuring devices, but the ring sizing and shoe purchasing processes specifically have become severely antiquated in their implementation. The requirement of a person's physical presence to accomplish an intermediary task is a scarcity, and the ring sizing and shoe purchasing processes are two of the few retail mechanisms that maintain this requirement. Therefore, there is a long-felt but unresolved need for a system or method that can expeditiously and accurately measure a physical object, such as a ring finger or foot, without the need for antiquated measuring equipment or an in-store or on-location experience.